Starting Out

In less than a month my husband, ten-year old son and I will be travelling to Bologna, Italy where we will live for three months. We have rented an apartment in a neighborhood a short bus ride from the city center. Other than our arrival date and tickets for an opera in October, we have no particular plans. Basically, we want to take a look around and eat a lot.

As was to be expected, I am nervous about virtually every aspect of this trip. One day I turned to my husband Bill and said, "I'm worried about things you've never even dreamed of." Strangely, he did not look in the least surprised. I try to imagine one of my grandfather's sisters, Belle or Fanny, telling me, "You know, there are lots of people out there who would give their eye-teeth just to have a chance to worry about such a lovely trip." Not that this helps.

At least this blog has given me a more immediate focus. It is hard to write and worry at the same time. Right now I am pondering a new title. It is just possible that “This ain’t no marshmallow factory” is less poetic than it should be. Since “Under the Tuscan Sun” has already been taken, perhaps I should go with “Through the Bolognese Portico.” The preposition plus suggestive Italian detail definitely has possibilities. Yet, considering the many rainy days in Bologna (hence the existence of said porticos), maybe a better title would be, “Where is the Bolognese Sun?” Another approach, and it must be a terrific one since so many writers use it, would be to pair a food characteristic of the country with a container that is equally evocative: “A Bowl of Olives,” “Un Cestino of Figs”… “A Schmear of Butter.” I can see that whichever way I go, it will be necessary to pepper my entries with lots of italicized Italian phrases, and I will try to amaze everybody by the ease with which I switch back and forth between the two languages, not to mention the plain-text and italic buttons on my keyboard.

I promise this blog will be about something and not just a blog about blogging. Mostly it will be about my areas of interest that I hope will be interesting to others: art, food, travel and homeschooling. A presto.